India and England face off in the second of five Tests at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam from November 17.
It’s fair to say that the opening Test at Rajkot did not go according to plan for the Indian team. On an unexpectedly batsmen-friendly surface, the Indian bowlers were made to toil hard as England nearly snatched the win on the final day, Indian captain Virat Kohli having to save the blushes of the hosts.
Moving on to Vizag with the series level at 0-0, you would expect the pitch to favour the spin bowlers in the second Test, something which wasn’t always the case in the first.
In fact, the ODI that was played here between India and New Zealand just a couple of weeks ago saw the Indian spinners cause havoc, bowling out the Kiwis for just 79. The slower bowlers had picked up eight wickets between themselves for the Men in Blue, with Amit Mishra claiming five scalps for just 18 runs.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: 17 November 2016 – 21 November 2016
Time: 09:30 local time (IST), 04:00 GMT, 08:00 GST
Venue: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Star Sports 1, HD 1 (English), Star Sports 3, HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports 2 HD
Online streaming: starsports.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE blog: Sport360 blog
TEAM NEWS, SQUAD, PREDICTED XI
INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul.
The Indian team management have increased the strength of the squad from 15 to 16 with opening batsman KL Rahul fully recovering from the hamstring injury that kept him out of two Tests and the entire ODI series against New Zealand, and the first Test in the series against England.
Playing for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy in an attempt to prove his fitness, Rahul scored 76 and 106 against Rajasthan – two fluent knocks which seemed to have impressed a couple of the Indian selectors who were watching the game in the stadium.
With Rahul back, expect him to take Gautam Gambhir’s spot in the Indian team after the left-handed opener failed to impress in Rajkot.
One big talking point going into the match is regarding India’s team combination. Skipper Virat Kohli decided to go in with five bowlers in the first Test, but that plan seemed somewhat ineffective. So, don’t be surprised if Karun Nair or Hardik Pandya occupy the number six slot in this game.
There have been calls from former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to include Ishant Sharma in the XI ahead of Umesh Yadav. The latter bowled well in the Rajkot Test, but had no luck going his way, with a number of catches dropped off his bowling.
PREDICTED INDIA XI: Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Kohli (c), Rahane, Ashwin, Saha (wk), Jadeja, Mishra, Shami, Yadav.
ENGLAND SQUAD: Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Duckett, Steven Finn, Haseeb Hameed, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes,
England put the ghosts of the Test loss in Bangladesh behind them to put up a strong performance in the first Test at Rajkot. Their batsmen had a field outing, with as many four of them scoring a century in the Test.
One of England’s biggest problems in Test cricket over the last four years has been filling the opening slot left vacant after the retirement of Andrew Strauss. In Rajkot, Haseeb Hameed was given an opportunity at the top of the order and the 19-year-old grabbed it with both hands, displaying all his talent during his knock of 82 in England’s second innings.
James Anderson, who has been England’s premier fast bowler over the best part of the last decade, had mentioned last week that he could be fit in time for the Visakhapatnam Test. But with Chris Woakes bowling so well at Rajkot, the English think-tank might decide not to rush Anderson back into the line-up.
Ben Duckett was the visitors’ only real failure in the top-order, but expect the Northamptonshire batsman to keep his place in the team ahead of Gary Ballance and Jos Buttler.
PREDICTED ENGLAND XI: Cook, Hameed, Root, Duckett, Ali, Stokes, Bairstow (wk), Woakes, Rashid, Ansari, Broad.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
INDIA: D W W W D
ENGLAND: D L W L W
MATCH PREDICTION
India to win – expect the hosts to come back strongly on a pitch that should assist their spinners.